Students at The George Washington University wax eloquent on all things North Korean

Sunday, October 31, 2004

NK Defector Walks into U.S. Consulate in Moscow

Hello everyone,

This article states that a NK defector walked into a U.S. Consulate in Moscow to seek refuge:

It has been confirmed that the man went to an influential local newspaper to ask for help, saying that he did not want to go back to North Korea, a week before he entered the U.S. Consulate. But the paper refused his request, after which he entered the Consulate. This is the first time that a North Korean has entered a foreign legation in Russia.

Some 12,000 NK workers in forestry, agriculture and construction across Russia are also seeking refuge, but are having a difficult time to do so:

[...] [I]t is not easy for them to seek refuge because they live in a systematically monitored group, are very loyal to their communist country and most of them have families in North Korea.

As evident, this leaves many NK refugees in a predicament, and at the same time, it is difficult to decide what it is that can be done to provide a solution to this issue.

1 comment:

It seems like we hear about North Korean defectors every week. Many on the blog, myself included, observed that in JSA the North Koreans were represented as hungry and poor but proud of their country and loyal to it as well. It would be interesting to know what percentage of North Koreans are represented by this profile and what percentage would defect in a minute if it meant putting food on the table. We probably aren't going to find out in the near future but it would interesting to know nonetheless.